


After Colony: Rebirth

by Aeternus_Flamma



Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Civilian Life, F/M, Mystery, Preventers, Romance, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Super Soldiers, Suspense
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-09
Updated: 2017-01-30
Packaged: 2018-09-16 01:04:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9266840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aeternus_Flamma/pseuds/Aeternus_Flamma
Summary: Wufei finds himself living on a small island off of the coast of Maine, once his life settles down. Though he's convinced himself that he's only staying to watch over a woman in a bit of impending danger, there's more to it than that. He slowly starts to realize that there is a place in life for soldiers of of the battlefield.[This story is a spin off of After Colony: Revelation but it is not entirely necessary to have read it. The epilogue is now up loaded for that story, which directly relates to this one.]





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a direct sequel to After Colony: Revelation. However, you can read this story without having read the first one. You may miss some details about the character of Phe, but if you can simply accept her character and actions, then you’ll be fine. This is a piece primarily about Wufei and his own personal growth.

After Colony: Rebirth

000

_This is a direct sequel to After Colony: Revelation. However, you can read this story without having read the first one. You may miss some details about the character of Phe, but if you can simply accept her character and actions, then you’ll be fine. This is a piece primarily about Wufei and his own personal growth._

000

Wufei scowled and looked at his hands, noticing he missed a spot of grease near his wrist. While he didn't particularly mind his work, he often felt like he was perpetually scraping off layers of his skin in attempt to be clean after a day in the shop.

Spending years around mobile suits had made him quite accustomed to mechanical repair. Though there weren't many cars in Jasper's Cove, there were plenty of boats that seemed to need continuous fixing. He didn't necessarily need a job—what with Quatre's willingness to pay for most of his expenses—he just didn't like sitting around idly.

Besides, getting a job seemed to be a good enough excuse for the curious townsfolk when he signed a six month lease over at the Tranquil Inn's guest house.

For his first month, Wufei had been the talk of the town, even if was behind his back. He heard the whispers. There were all sorts of theories as to why he just showed up in the town and then decided to stay. Though he found it irritating, he never bothered trying to explain himself. He preferred that he was left alone.

As he turned and walked down the street towards Marty's he grimaced. Sitting in the middle of the side walk was a plastic skeleton that was supposed to be seated on a hay bale outside of the restaurant. He had been picking it up for the past three days.

Frown set firmly in place, he marched over and grabbed the thing by the leg and lifted it up. When he neared the restaurant, he set it down on its bale and placed a pumpkin on its hand to keep it from blowing away again.

"You know, you're the only one who cares enough to pick Louie up," said a voice from the doorway.

"It bothers me," he replied and turned around. "I swear, I will zip tie the damned thing tomorrow if I have to."

Pheona, or Phe, stood leaning in the doorway with her arms crossed and a brow raised. She shrugged. "Then I would just have to cut the zip tie at the end of the night to put him away. I can't leave him out or the local hooligans may get him. Marty would have my head if Louie went missing overnight."

He was still getting used to seeing—and talking to—her every day. He'd only been in town for about two months, but he had fallen into a routine.

In the morning, he would get up early and meditate. Sometimes it would be inside, sometimes on his back porch, and sometimes, it would be on the beach near his work. He would work until about eleven and the walk over to Marty's for lunch. Since he ordered the same thing every day, homemade crab cakes with coleslaw and fresh baked potato chips, she had taken to having it ready for him when he came in. The restaurant didn't open until eleven, so he was often he first customer of the day.

Wufei liked being the first one in. Phe usually sat with him and watched the news while wrapping silverware until another customer came in.

While it wasn't as if he wanted to monopolize her time, he simply didn't like the other customers. Or, more particularly, he didn't like it when some of the other male patrons came in and struck up a conversation with her. There was a voice in the back of his head that tried to explain to him why, exactly, it bothered him so much. But he staunchly squashed the subconscious speaker and convinced himself it was just because he couldn't be sure if they were threats to her safety.

That was all.

Wufei took a seat at his usual spot at the bar while Phe walked behind the counter to fill him a glass of Iced Tea. Once she had finished, she disappeared for a few moments to return with his warm plate.

Then the two sat in relative silence. Phe sat watching the news as she laid out napkins and silverware, wrapping them as she went. He only half listened to the news, knowing he wouldn't have much time after he had finished before he had to leave again. He only looked up when he heard the clinking of silverware next to him come to a stop.

"…Yes Nancy, it does appear that the two were victims of 'the Rapture.' They were a couple who ran week long programs for survival training in Oregon. Based upon the crime scene, it does seem that CSO neurochips were removed from the victims. Viewers be advised: the images you are about to see may be disturbing."

Wufei's jaw clenched as he saw cameras zoom in on the two corpses found laying in the woods. He supposed that they were a few days old and had been exposed to the elements before they were found. He glanced at Phe from the corner of his eye and saw her staring at the screen and absently running her thumb over a patch of hair on the left side of her skull.

"They'll be caught," he said and returned to his meal, disregarding the images on the screen. If he knew Quatre, and he felt relatively confident that he did, to a certain extent, then he knew that the Preventers had people working on tracking down the group known as the Rapture.

Still, he had to admit, he was relatively surprised he had not received a call to investigate. He was one of the closest ranking officers, after all. Why hadn't he received orders to reactivate his status and end his leave of absence?

Her hand quickly dropped to her lap and she sighed. She went back to rolling the silverware.

Wufei was not sure if she, or anyone else, knew of her involvement with CSO. All he could dig up on her was that she came over on a refugee boat with people who were displaced from Germany after the final battle. She had been under the care of a doctor who had listed her as a Jane Doe. There were so many affected by CSO that some countries, like the US, didn't have much problem accepting refugees from certain friendly countries so long as there were no obvious signs of threats.

And an unconscious woman with burns on half of her body and no memory of how she got them or who she was, was low on the threat list in their eyes.

He had yet to find the doctor who had brought her over and dropped her off in the small town of Jasper's Cove.

"Has anyone told you about the Halloween party?" Phe asked, changing the subject as she turned off the TV.

"No one's had to. I've seen the posters on every telephone pole in town," Wufei replied. He finished off his Iced-Tea and Phe stood to get him another, but he shook his head and she sat back down.

"They go a little crazy with it here. But, anyhow, you should go. Meet people. They even give out door prizes. After nine, it's adult only. Kids are sent home with sitters and the parents keep partying. I've heard it's a blast, if you like that sort of thing."

Wufei dug his wallet out of his coat and placed his cash on the counter. "You don't go?"

"No," Phe sighed, shaking her head. "Halloween… it isn't really my thing. Marty closes the place after six because everyone's gone for the evening. I stayed last year and did inventory. I think I'll do it again. No one will bother me if I'm here."

"Do people usually bother you?"

She was quiet for a few moments. Phe rolled up her sleeve and flashed the burn scars visible on her left arm. "I've had my fair share of 'monster' jokes throughout the past two years."

Wufei looked down at her arm then back up to her face, which was already turned away as she rolled her sleeve down again. He hadn't had the opportunity to ask before, but it seemed she had given him the perfect opening.

"What happened two years ago?"

Phe seemed surprised that he asked and she opened her mouth, but closed it again. "I don't know," she shrugged. She was uncomfortable, and he could tell. Perhaps he shouldn't have broached the subject so soon. "I woke up, I was on a boat and in pain. I woke up again, and I was here. That's pretty much it."

Wufei hummed but said no more.

"I'm off tomorrow. If you plan on coming in, just remember that Marty will be working and he won't have food ready for you." Phe took his payment and cashed him out. He was already at the door giving a haphazard wave when she finished. She always tried to give him his change, and he always left it.

000

The following day, Wufei did not get to go to lunch at his usual time (not that it mattered since he didn't plan on stopping at Marty's anyhow.) Instead, he had to hold his tongue while his boss, and son of the owner of McGlennen's Repair, shouted at him.

"Jesus, I asked for you to put in a purchase order, not find a new vendor," Jack McGlennen snapped, waving his hands at the boxes sitting on the dock. "We have a contract with Astor's!"

"They're obviously taking advantage of you," Wufei replied and crossed his arms. "The parts cost almost half as much as they charge—and almost a third if you'll take a referb piece. This vendor is more reliable."

"You don't get to make that decision! You're a repairman, not a partner. You seemed competent enough so I thought you could handle a simple purchase order. What the hell am I supposed to tell Astor's now? They're going to be wondering why we didn't place an order this month!" Jack was about ten years older than Wufei, and he certainly didn't mind treating Wufei like he was some sort of juvenile despite him being twenty four.

"I would recommend telling Astor's that you're trying out a new bid and that unless they're going to match their costs, you're going to take your business elsewhere. And I say this—" Wufei raised his voice a bit louder since the man started talking over him again "—because they are taking advantage of you. You want to buy the warehouse next door, correct? What you would save in a year on parts, the same exact parts, you could use as a down payment at the end of the year."

That seemed to be enough to get Jack to quiet. He still paced around a bit and then stopped, looking at the metal pieces in the boxes.

"Lennard is finishing with the last job. There's no more work for the day, clock out. I'll have to spend the day sorting this mess out."

Honestly, Wufei was thrilled that he was told to leave. He was certainly still getting used to having a 'boss' and he wasn't sure he cared for it. It had been a very long time since someone could tell him what to do. He thought he was much more competent than his fool of a boss.

He kept any would-be mutterings to himself as he started to walk back towards the little town. He had no idea what he would do to entertain himself for the rest of the day. He had already explored the two bookstores the town had to offer as well the dollar theater. He supposed if he wanted, he could take the day to go hike in the forest surrounding the town—but he would have preferred to have left at dawn for a productive day.

As he neared the main street, he crossed the road and decided to enter the grocery store. He had been putting off his shopping for nearly a week anyhow.

While he could cook well enough, Wufei didn't care to do it too much in his little guest house. The kitchen was small and the appliances were old. He didn't care for waste, so he bought very little at one time—milk, bread, some vegetables…He was just thinking of getting the ingredients for shrimp stir fry when he felt someone entering into his personal space.

"Hey there."

He turned to see a woman leaning against the side of the cooler he was staring into. He raised a brow and looked at her; he made it a point to look only at her face since she was wearing a very low cut shirt.

"The polite thing to say would be 'hi,'" she added with a smirk when he didn't answer.

He knew this woman. He couldn't think of her name, but he had seen her in the town before. She was usually with a group, typically with a man or two hanging from her arm, and quite loud. Phe had made it very clear that she didn't like this woman.

"Everyone says you're quiet, I guess that's true," the woman said, continuing to talk despite the look of boredom she was receiving. "I'm Lea. You've probably seen me around…."

She seemed to be waiting for any sign of recognition, but Wufei only hummed in response.

"Well, anyways, some friends and I are going to be at the Silver Spoon for drinks before hitting up the Halloween party. It's actually somewhat enjoyable when you have a buzz. You should come. Meet some new people besides Marty's crowd," Lea said and then fell silent, idly twirling her phone in her hands.

"I have plans," Wufei finally said when he grew tired of staring at the woman. She seemed intent of waiting for an answer and he was intent on finishing his shopping.

He turned and walked away, leaving her standing there, as he went to go find the spices.

Wufei was surprised to find Phe standing down the aisle, scanning the shelves for something. When she spotted him, she seemed to start chuckling.

"Are spices funny?" He asked and reached over her for a small bottle.

Her smile only grew wider. "You know, you may be the first eligible man to have ever turned down Lea."

"Who says I'm 'eligible?’"

"Aren't you?" Phe asked with a raised brow.

He looked at her for a moment, dropping his container in to his basket. He shrugged. "For someone who doesn't like Halloween, you're certainly stocked up." Wufei nodded to her cart which was filled with bags of candy.

When Phe looked away and chuckled awkwardly, he noticed that there was a bit of red creeping up her neck and cheeks. She was blushing—well, he wasn't expecting that. It was an odd sight.

"I like sweet things, and spicy," she said and waved the three containers she was holding before placing them in her cart. "For some reason, I can only taste really strong flavors. When I find something I like, I have to stock up. Dark chocolates and caramels, those are my favorites."

Before he knew it, the two of them were walking down the aisle towards the checkout lines.

"Do you have a favorite candy?" Phe asked as they got into line. She let him go ahead of her since he had less in his basket.

Wufei frowned and shook his head. "I don't eat many sweets. Especially American sweets. I don't care for the taste."

"Huh," she replied thoughtfully, "where are you from? If you don't mind me asking…"

He contemplated hurrying his checkout to avoid a personal conversation, but he supposed that would defeat his whole purpose of staying in the town in the first place. He just hadn't thought that a grocery store would be the place he would start having a chitchat.

But… that was what normal people did, didn't they? And he was trying to be normal.

"I was born in the colonies. I lived there until about ten years ago."

"I hear space is beautiful," Phe commented and started to place her items on the belt.

Wufei clenched his jaw and nodded. He hated this. He wanted to grab her by her shoulders and shake her, shouting, 'you know all of this. Why don't you remember?'

But she didn't. Each day, Wufei had somewhat hoped that he would walk into Marty's and she would suddenly remember. He hoped that there would be a spark of recognition and she would remember sparring with him, or working on their gundams together. He had to face the facts though.

Edan was dead.

Pheona was the one who rose from the ashes.

"The usual, tomorrow?" Phe asked as he checked out and grabbed his bags from the belt.

He gave her a curt nod and bid her a good day before turning to briskly walk towards the door. He hardly noticed the cold glare that the woman named Lea was giving Phe. He also hardly noticed as Lea called two young boys away from their mother to whisper to them.

000

Phe was serious when she said Halloween was a big deal to the island. The kids had a half day (there was one small school on the island for the two-hundred-some kids who were in all twelve grades and kindergarten.) Some of them were already running around in their costumes—though they were mostly standing outside of the shops their parents owned and handing out candy to passerby's.

As much as he wanted to turn away the candy, the few kids who hadn't run away scared by his glare still managed to stuff wrapped goodies into his hands. His pockets were overflowing. It was annoying.

The bell dinged when he entered Marty's. It was closer to noon and there were a few more patrons than normal for the hour.

The first thing that Wufei noticed was that Marty was actually behind the bar, and not Phe. He slowly walked over to his usual seat and subtly observed the bar. He knew she was supposed to be in—she usually told him ahead of time when she was off. "No Phe today," Wufei commented.

"Eh? No… no Phe today," Marty replied. "Iced Tea, right?"

Wufei nodded and grabbed a menu, deciding to find something different if there wasn't something waiting for him.

"So, you're going to the Halloween party, ain't ya?"

000


	2. Chapter Two

After Colony: Rebirth

000

It was a particularly nice night. The week had been chilly, and the ocean wind had been blowing in all day and night. It seemed to have calmed for the evening, at least enough to let trick-or-treaters run around without jackets on after dusk.

Wufei didn't really have a good reason not to go to the party. Essentially everyone he had run into had asked him if he was going. He felt he would catch more flack if he didn't go, and that was honestly more annoying than making an appearance at town center. So, down Main Street he walked again, passing the dark Marty's, and towards the sound of music.

The center was certainly done up. There were numerous carved pumpkins outside with a large, fake spider sitting on the roof of the entryway. There were strings of black lights strung across the shrubbery, with a fog machine occasionally misting the lawn and doorway.

The children who had finished their festivities were running around outside, occasionally entering and exiting the building. They only had about ten minutes left before their curfew hit, and everyone under eighteen had to be out of the building. He hoped he would also be gone by that point as well.

Wufei entered and walked around a bit, sticking to the walls and watching as people danced on the floor. It was all rather tame; fathers had their daughters in their arms, spinning around and laughing under the orange lights, committee members pointed out what decorations they had added for that year, and volunteers watched the punchbowl like hawks. In some of the quieter side rooms, there were other activities—like a fortune teller, a story teller, and bobbing for apples (run by the managers of the local food market, he noticed.)

In some ways, he was quite impressed. The small community didn't have much to do for fun on a regular basis, so they really put an effort into spicing up the holidays. He wondered if they got just as into Christmas—not that he really intended to stick around Jasper's Cove that long.

"So you did come," Jack McGlennen said to him as he walked from the punch station with a drink in hand.

Wufei nodded. "Thought I would see what the fuss was about."

"Yeah, I guess it could seem strange to an outsider, but the community likes to come together for this sort of thing. Makes good memories." Jack stood next to him, and it was when he turned that Wufei noticed that half of his face was done up in horror make-up. It looked like half of his face was burnt.

So Phe had a right to want to steer clear of the place.

Soon, another man walked up to join them. He was older, but Wufei could see the resemblance almost immediately. This was Killian McGlennen, the owner of McGlennen Repair.

"That name's Chang, right?" The older man asked and stretched out his hand. Wufei took it and gave it a firm shake. Killian was quite a bit… rounder… than his son. He didn't appear to be in any costume, though his outfit was reminiscent of the old Victorian Era.

"Yes, sir," Wufei replied.

"My son here says you went behind his back and found another provider for our inventory. Says you caused a lot of problems with our Astor's contract," Killian said. His tone seemed to indicate some sort of warning or something along those lines.

Wufei wasn't sure what to make of the tone, but he certainly didn't feel threatened. "I did order the parts as I was told."

"That you did… I called that other company. Mike Howard's Marine Shipping. Seems that Mike Howard had some good words to say about you—though not about your personality. How did he put it? 'The kid's got a good head on him. He can fix just about anything. But don't expect any good conversation, he always seems like he's got a stick up his ass.'"

Wufei scowled. Yeah. That seemed like a pretty 'Howard' sort of thing to say.

"I worked with him on a few occasions. I assure you, his pricing is standard. He did not discount it for me."

Killian smiled widely and then laughed. "Most people would deny it if someone said they have a stick up their ass, and you just ignore it and get right down to business. I like that. You were right though, Astor's distributor has been ripping us off. I called around to some other of his clients and some in another division, and it seems this guy has been jacking up the prices and taking a cut for himself. I know the guy who owns the company, but he hasn't actually worked there in years. If you hadn't made your point, we probably would have overlooked it and continued taking a hit."

He clapped Wufei on the back and Wufei stiffened. His grip tightened on the plastic cup he had in his hand, and if he hadn't finished most of it, he probably would have caused some to gush over the sides.

"I know you've only been with us for a month, but I see promise in you, kid. I have another guy retiring soon which will cause some shuffling. If you're interested, I would gladly put you into the promotions pool. By the time it comes up, you'll probably have been with us for six months. What do you say? Would you accept a full time gig with us? Half your time in repairs, half in day-to-day management?"

While he wasn't necessarily keen on working more hours, he did like the idea of having a bit more control. But who knew? Maybe he wouldn't even be here in six months. He supposed he could humor the man, if only to keep further questioning to a minimum. "I would be interested."

Killian laughed again. "Good, good… I do have just one more question for you, though it's more of a personal curiosity than anything."

The man started walking, keeping his hand on Wufei's shoulder, obligating Wufei to walk with him. The former gundam pilot suddenly felt rather trapped, almost as if the man had worked on lowering his guard before guiding him off to one of the side rooms. The room was well lit and undecorated, which was likely why it was mostly empty.

"Another thing I found when I was looking into Mike Howard's company was that he was most known for his contributions to the Peacemillion and the Swifttrillion. Now, you're what? Twenty five or something? You would've only been in high school when the Peacemillion was in the media. But the Swifttrillion… That was a well-known rebel ship during CSO's takedown."

"It was," Wufei confirmed, his eyes flickering over both Killian and Jack. As far as he could tell, neither of them was armed, so at least this wasn't an ambush. He could handle two out of shape men if need be.

"You have to see where I'm going with this, don't you?" The man asked raising a brow.

Wufei only stared back at him, his eyes narrowing. "No, I don't believe I do."

"Kid, we just gotta know if you're a threat to our little community," Killian said with a loud sigh. "We have to look out for our own. Were you one of the rebel soldiers? It's the best that I can come up with— you have great skills, but no resume. We took a chance hiring you because you said you could do the job, but you had no references. To me, that seems like a guy who's got no formal training, and hasn't ever worked a real job. Now, it's okay, obviously I'm more interested in your skills and work ethic, but you gotta tell me."

Looking between the two other men, Wufei weighed his options. "I prefer to keep that information to myself."

"Well that certainly clears a few things up. We're a good town here, we're very accepting. I think all of our families came here at one point or another looking to start fresh. If you make an effort and try to fit in, Jasper's Cove can be home. Just don't go starting any trouble." With one more smile and a handshake, Killian was off and his son trailing behind him.

If the town social settings were nothing more than opportunities for people to corner him without drawing attention to themselves, then Wufei didn't plan on going to anymore. Either the town accepted him as a recluse, or it didn't and he left.

He finished his punch and tossed the crinkled cup in the wastebasket before making his way to the main door.

"Oh, sir!" A woman called out to him, just as he was about to make it to the steps. He turned to see a middle aged woman dressed in a rather elaborate witch's costume come running towards him, a bag in hand. "If you aren't staying for the door prizes, at least take a goodie bag back with you!" She shoved a paper bag with handles, tied shut with an orange and black ribbon, into his hands before scurrying off to scold some children.

As he walked back, annoyed with himself for even leaving his house that night and for not throwing the bag away as soon as he was given it, he noticed how eerie the town had become.

Most of the Jasper's Cove was either at home or at the party. There was no one else walking the streets, and he supposed that it wasn't something limited to Halloween. Everything shut down by ten, save Marty's, the Silver Spoon, and one other bar on the opposite end of town.

And since Marty's was closed, the street was almost completely dark, except the occasional street light—and even then, some of them were dim or burned out.

As he started to walk by, Wufei noticed that there were lights on inside of Marty's, even though the blinds were half drawn and it was supposed to be closed. Two of the four-top tables were pushed together with boxes on top of them, and a third joined them shortly after when Phe walked from the back.

Before he could think through what he was doing, Wufei raised his hand and rapped on the glass of the door. He must have startled her because she whipped around, eyes wide. When she saw him, she smiled, shook her head, and seemed to laugh.

It took her a moment to maneuver around the chairs she had littering the way instead of being pushed against their tables. She went to the door and unlocked it, opening it to greet him.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, looking to out to see if anyone else was with him.

Wufei raised the bag he had been given. "Leaving that awful party." When she determined that no one else was around, she stepped aside and let him enter, much to his surprise. "Won't you be in trouble for letting someone in after hours?"

"Don't try to rob or kill me, and I think we'll be fine," she said and shut the door, locking it again. "So you didn't like it? A lot of people love it."

"Halloween's not my thing," he replied, repeating her words to him from a few days earlier. He practically shoved his goodie bag in her arms. "Here."

She didn't seem like she would argue. Instead, Phe took the bag and set it on one of the booths. "So what? You here to keep me company while I count bottles and Styrofoam boxes?" She left him standing near one of the booths while she walked passed him and went to the bar. She reached down into one of the mini fridges for two bottles of beer. Before he could have a chance to object, she uncapped them and walked back.

"I guess now I don't have much choice," he muttered when she handed him the bottle. He hardly drank, but he supposed he could manage to socially drink one bottle. "You're allowed to drink on the job?"

"If you're going to spend the night questioning everything I do, maybe I don't want your company," she said with a smirk. She dropped into the booth and turned, leaning against the window and stretching out along the bench. She wasn't very tall, so her shoes barely touched the edge.

Wufei shrugged and took a sip from the bottle, holding back his grimace. American beer, certainly worse than American chocolate. After looking around the bar—the low lighting from just one light and a few dim, covered wall lights, as well as the flashing colored lights of a pinball machine in the corner—he realized how different it looked in the dark. He almost preferred it.

"You weren't in earlier. I didn't think you would still do inventory." He turned to look at her again and was slightly taken aback by the expression she had. Her brows were furrowed and she seemed to stare at him—or, maybe, through him. It was like she was appraising him.

Then she shrugged and looked away, sipping her own beer. "I had a bad morning."

He glanced down at his bottle then raised it towards her, a brow raised. She laughed.

"No, no, not hung-over or anything… my body just… doesn't always cooperate. Marty's pretty good about understanding and opening when I call him at the last minute." Phe reached into her pocket and pulled out a small remote, pointing it at a spot at the bar. It took a few tries and required her to stretch her arm up high as she leaned forward, but she did manage to get music clicked on. "Besides, I love inventory night. Marty gives me a budget—I can order food, sing and dance in the bar to my heart's content, sometimes play a few rounds of pinball, and just count stuff. I may be here 'til two in the morning, but it's fun. And I don't have to deal with people."

"Am I interrupting your fun?"

"Of course not," she laughed, waving him off, "I wouldn't have let you in if you were. I don't mind you. I just get annoyed with some of the other customers. Some of them treat me like their waitress, which I know is my job and all, but I like the customers who treat me as a friend better."

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Wufei watched with mild amusement as the woman started getting antsy and shifting around in the creaky booth. Finally, she reached for the bag he brought and untied the ribbon.

"I can't help myself. I want to see what candy you got. They usually have the good stuff."

As she dumped the bag and started diligently sorting through the treats—a few king sized bars, some orange wrapped truffles, and a single serve juice bottle to name a few—Wufei allowed himself to smile in the slightest possible way.

"You're like a child."

Phe glanced up at him, a half-smile firmly in place. She didn't seem to be offended, at least. "I have two years of memories. I'm lucky enough to be a mostly functional adult with the amount that I've forgotten."

He flicked a caramel she missed in her direction. It almost slid off the table, but she caught it. "You seem to do alright. Does it bother you that you can't remember?"

She continued looking down and shrugged. "I figure I'm better off. I could have been an awful person. Maybe I did awful things. Maybe I'm being punished. The doctor who saved me said I'm lucky to be alive. Honestly, I probably don't want to remember whatever it was that caused me to wake up covered in burns and a bullet—" she stopped suddenly and fell quiet, still looking down.

"I apologize," Wufei reluctantly said as the tension in the air started rising, "you've probably had this conversation often and tire of it. I shouldn't have asked. It isn't my business."

She seemed to force a smile as she scooped the candy she wanted to the side. "As long as you aren't a reporter or something, looking for tragic stories to write on."

He laughed; he couldn't help it—though it was almost more like a bark. "A reporter? No, definitely not a reporter. That's… a rather amusing thought though."

After a moment, her smile widened and she laughed too. "I think that's the first time I've heard you laugh since you've got here."

"It doesn't happen often, I assure you," he replied and turned, stretching out as well. He had to bend his knee for his foot to keep from hanging over the edge of the bench. "How can you do that? That must taste awful."

Phe started unwrapping candy. She had popped a piece in her mouth and didn't hesitate to take a swig from her bottle a moment later. "Eh, I can barely taste it. It doesn't bother me. Only strong flavors, remember? So, if you aren't a reporter, why did you come here? I'm serious, I really thought you would turn out to be a reporter."

Wufei supposed he had done enough prying on his own that it was only fair for him to return the favor. Besides, sitting in the quiet of the bar with privacy was much preferred over the chaos of the grocery store.

"The day I came here, Maggie, at the Inn, called me a soul searcher. She may have been right. I just didn't know it yet," Wufei said and slowly turned his bottle in his hand. The wrapper was already starting to come off from being wet. The more his turned it, the more it peeled back.

"Did you find it? Whatever you were searching for then?"

He sighed and put his head back, then gave a slow and slight nod. "In some ways. I had an idea what I was looking for, but… it turned out not to be what I expected."

"I bet that was a disappointment," she said, "especially if you had to come all the way to little Jasper's Cove to find it."

"It was just different."

Phe opened her mouth to speak when there was a sudden 'smack' against the window behind them. Wufei immediately dove from the booth, grabbing the woman's arm and pulling her down with him. She more or less fell out of the booth, with the way he pulled her, but she didn't seem to mind.

Smack, smack, smack smack.

Phe started to sit up, but he grabbed her and kept her down. "Stay down," he hissed and peeked up.

There was something dripping down the window.

"Those little bastards," Phe snapped. He glanced over to see that she had disregarded him and sat up anyhow. In a moment, she was on her feet and running to the door. She unlocked it and whipped it open, running to the street. "We have security cameras, you little brats!"

Smack, smack.

Two more eggs came flying out from behind a parked car, hitting her square in the chest and stomach, as giggles were heard running away.

Wufei shut the door behind her once she walked in muttering to herself, and locked it. His adrenaline was already pumping and he knew it would take few minutes before he calmed down. After going so long without hearing gunfire, he thought, for a moment, they were being shot at.

He wasn't expecting some punk ass kids egging the restaurant.

"This is not what I needed today," Phe said bitterly, wiping some of the dripping yolk from her shirt with her hand, then washing it in the sink. "There's a box of tee shirts on the table, will you please toss me one?"

Wufei figured she meant one of the three boxes she had sitting out to count. Inside, there were a few smaller bundles of white shirts by size, all with the Marty's logo on the front, left breast, and across the back. He pulled one out and tossed it to her.

Phe briefly disappeared in the back before returning, her long-sleeved black shirt crumpled in a shopping bag. He could see her scars the entire way up her left arm. She continued muttering to herself as she filled a bucket with soap and water.

"Marty's going to flip when he hears about this. I bet I know the two brats too. The two youngest kids of the Donahue clan. I live up the street from their aunt and uncle, and they're always running through my yard. I really have to put up a fence around my garden next year—they kill everything! Now I have to clean the damned window again…"

"I'll help—"

"—no, no. I've got it. It will only take me a few minutes. But I can't imagine you'll want to stick around now. I have to finish counting those boxes as well as a few things in the back before I can head out. I don't plan on being too late though. Any good mood I had is gone. If those kids come back, I don't want to have to clean another mess, just because I was here…" She turned off the water and grabbed a rag before lugging the bucket towards the door.

Wufei thought about taking off. He would only be more of a distraction for her if he stuck around. However, he stayed. He had a bad feeling—Quatre would have said it was his gut instinct, and Quatre always listened to that instinct.

He watched from the booth as Phe scrubbed down the water. After she got the yolk from the window, she leaned forward and stuck her tongue out at him. Then she smiled and went back to scrubbing.

When she came back in, Wufei sat back down at the booth. "I will wait until you're done. I will walk you home."

"You certainly have an air of authority about you, don't you?" Phe said as she dumped the rest of the soapy water down the sink. "I'm a big girl. I can walk home by myself."

"That wasn't a suggestion," Wufei replied and crossed his arms. "Do you have problems with anyone in the town?"

Phe shrugged. "Not really. I mean, there are a few people who are hardly kind to me, but you can't expect everyone to like you, can you?"

Wufei fully expected no one to like him.

When he didn't respond right away, he noticed her raise her hand to her left temple again. He wondered if it was a nervous habit, or if she did it when thinking of something in particular.

"I saw that woman, Lea, speaking with two boys in the grocery store. I didn't get a good look at them just now, but they could have been the same…"

"Yup," she groaned, "that would be the Donahue brats. She's one of their aunts. Youngest sister to the Donahue brothers."

He would have to do a bit of research on the family. If they were a possible threat, he would find a way to deal with it.

"Is there a reason she would target you specifically?" Wufei asked and looked out the window. The streetlight outside of the restaurant was rather dim, but he still felt he could see movement if he had a view outside.

"Target? Christ you make it sound like she wants to kill me… It's nothing like that, at least, I hope not. No, it's just that she has a real "alpha female" mentality. The people here our age have grown up listening to her and doing as she says. I supposed that's just part of living in a small town or something, I don't know. Anyhow, since I didn't grow up here, I don't have that fear, or respect, or whatever it is that other people have. She's always been spoiled rotten, I gather, and I don't cater to it."

"That's all?" He looked back at her and raised a brow. It seemed rather unlikely that a mutual dislike grew from nowhere.

"Basically," Phe muttered and then walked to the back.

Wufei sat there, quietly looking out the window, just in case. The volume on the stereo went up, and he supposed she turned it up with her remote so she could hear it in the back. When the track changed, he heard her start to sing.

He quickly looked back at the door she had disappeared through. Singing? It was odd enough to get used to her speaking, but singing? He had never imagined it. He couldn't hear her very well, since the door was shut and she wasn't exactly performing, but as far as he could tell, she wasn't bad—especially for someone who spent six years of their life mute.

After she remained in the back for another song, he contemplated leaving. However, when he pulled out his phone to scroll through some news websites, he changed his mind.

There had been another attack on CSO Gen Two's, this time in Nevada. As usual, their neurochips had been removed.

Six months after the fall of CSO, there had been an anonymous movement calling for the elimination of anyone who had undergone CSO neurosurgery. Of course, so many people had been forced into the experiments that the movement quickly fizzled out. Periodically, there would a news story about a Gen Two that was attacked and mutilated. It particularly bothered him since he had met with most of the individuals who had been killed at one point or another during his time creating a Gen Two registrar.

Most of them had been grateful to be free from CSO—they were thrilled to know that no one could access them and force them to carry out unwanted orders. Wufei knew that the pair who had been killed a few days earlier in Oregon had a son together.

After he read the story, he placed his phone down, checked the front door again just to make sure it was locked, and then sat and finished his drink.

He would wait, just in case.

Twenty minutes later, Phe exited from the back. "You're still here? I thought you would leave as soon as I went to the back…"

"Who would have locked the door if I had?" He asked and stood, walking to stand at the bar.

"That's a good point," she replied and took a moment to wipe off some water that had splashed on the counter when she dumped the bucket. "So, okay, there's a little bit more to the whole Lea thing."

Wufei hummed and raised a brow.

"The doctor that brought me here… He's Marty's—he was Marty's son. He was basically the most successful person to ever get out of this town. He was a good man, did a lot for me when he didn't have to. Anyhow, he brought me here and was helping with my injuries and… trying to get me to talk. When he finally thought it was okay for me to start moving around, which was faster than he thought it would be, he brought me here." She paused and looked up, waving her hand.

"Most of the people knew I was coming, and they were nice enough. They didn't say anything about the bandages or the way I struggled to walk. But Lea was here, and she had been drinking with her friends. I guess she tried to hook up with David every time he was in town. She started hanging all over him and he tried to be nice, tried to get her to go back to her friends—said that he was busy and they could talk later. Lea doesn't like to be ignored. She said something along the lines of him being too busy babysitting a monster, and he should leave his project at home. Called him Doctor Frankenstein. I didn't remember who that was—I had to look it up. You could imagine how thrilled I was when I found out."

Phe gave a laugh and sighed, leaning back against the edge of the bar to look away from Wufei. He listened quietly, waiting for her to continue.

"Anyhow, David flipped out on her right there. He put her in her place when no one else would. She didn't show her face for almost a month. The whole town knew what she said, though it didn't take long before they forgot about it and let her go back to her usual antics. I didn't forget, and she didn't either. Except, in her version, I'm the one that embarrassed her, not David. Maybe it's just 'cause he died a year ago and she can't blame him anymore. She stopped coming around here after that, Marty said she wasn't welcome." She pulled the remote from her pocket and turned off the stereo for the night.

"You and David were… involved?"

She smiled and shook her head, "no, no. Nothing like that. I think… he just pitied me. I don't know how he stumbled across me, but he dropped everything he was doing to get me to the US and find me a place where I could recover. I was… too afraid of people to 'be involved' with anyone."

Wufei handed her their empty bottles and she dumped the little bits of liquid and foam into the sink, tossing the bottles in the restaurant's recycling bin. "Do you have much longer in here?"

"Told you, you should have left like half hour ago. You must be bored out of your mind. I still have to count those boxes and then put them away. If you don't interrupt my counting, I'm sure I can be done soon. Most of the stuff in the back was still in unopened boxes—I didn't have to open those to count them. Took half the normal time, thankfully."

Phe moved around the bar to the tables, grabbing a small notebook as she went, and started pulling the tee shirts from their box. Wufei watched her for a few moments before turning towards the window. He stood still, with his arms behind his back, and waited patiently. With the music off, the restaurant was still enough that he could hear the floor boards creak every time the woman shifted her weight.

It was an old building, but it had been well maintained. He imagined that a more sentimental person would say that it had personality. Just about everything was wood—there were thick beams that held arches, which were more for decoration than functionality. In a few random areas, hooks jutted out. Those had probably been used at one point or another for coat and hat racks, back when wearing and hanging hats were common practices.

There was a soft thud as Phe dropped the now completed box to the ground.

Even when there wasn't food cooking in the back, there was a certain flavor to the place. It was a musk that he attributed to years of weathering to the wooden building, both inside and out.

There weren't places like this in the colonies.

He had contemplated heading back to space, maybe working on the terraforming project. Maybe after everything he had seen and been through (especially with the CSO rebellion), staying a bit removed from technology was a good thing.

After a few more moments, Phe sighed loudly behind him.

"Alright, all done. Unfortunately, it does look like some of our promo glasses are gone. I'll have to talk to Marty and see if he gave any out without marking them down. I'll run these to the back and we can go." Wufei watched as she wrapped her arms around the box—filled with glassware—and started carting it back.

He thought about offering to carry it, but she certainly didn't seem to have any problem with doing it on her own. When she made her third trip, with the last box, he separated the tables and reset the chairs around them.

She thanked him and went to the large, glass, double doors along the back wall. After checking the locks again and adjusting one of the blinds, she turned and smiled at him.

"I'm done, I'm done, I promise."

Before they could lock the front door behind them, Phe haphazardly threw Louie the Skeleton inside on one of the booths to deal with in the morning.

"I don't understand the importance of Louie," Wufei said dryly as they started down Main Street together. It was in the opposite direction of his little guest house, but he wasn't particularly concerned for his own wellbeing.

If any kids tried to throw eggs at him, they would sorely regret it.

"Louie was Marty's gift to David when he was a kid. David apparently insisted that he would grow up to be a doctor, and he wanted one that… I think they go in classrooms? I don't remember ever seeing one myself, obviously, but that's a thing, right? Skeletons in classrooms?" Phe asked, burying her hands in her jacket pockets. The goodie bag hung from her wrist, occasionally hitting off her thigh as they walked.

Wufei hummed, but said nothing else. They turned down a street on the left, which had a gradual incline. Two houses were on either side of the street, but as they walked up, the houses were spaced a bit further apart.

"Well, anyways, since he really wanted one, Marty found a full sized plastic one, put a hole in the skull, and hung it by a string from David's playroom ceiling. He screamed bloody murder, I guess, when he saw it in the dark the night he came home, but loved it anyhow… You know, I feel like I talk your ear off. I don't know why you put up with it," Phe laughed, though he thought it seemed a bit forced.

"It doesn't bother me," he replied and she sighed.

"If you say so…"

"What happened to David?" He hadn't found record of Marty having a son, though he admittedly didn't look too hard. He hadn't found any noticeable threats so he didn't bother digging into all of the citizens. Maybe he should have.

Phe shrugged and fell silent, kicking a rock along the pavement.

Jasper's Cove was along the coast of their little island, with not much separating them from the water. On the other side, forest threatened to enter and reclaim the areas that had been turned into residential property. After they passed three more houses, and started to leave the town behind, the trees started becoming thicker. He wondered if she lived in the middle of the woods, alone.

"The Rapture got him," she said after their silence continued for a few minutes.

Wufei felt that it surely explained a lot. He wouldn't be surprised if very few people knew about Phe's neurochips, since it would have put her in danger. She had probably figured it out on her own and kept it to herself after her doctor-friend died. He had probably been working on rehabilitating some of the other Gen Two's—Wufei may have even met him at one point or another.

"You spell 'Pheona' very oddly," he said, changing the subject for her. He hadn't yet determined if she was the emotional sorts, but he had no desire to deal with a weepy woman. It was best to move on to a less sensitive subject.

"Yeah," she replied, drawing the word out, "that's because I was called 'Phe' before I was called Pheona. David didn't know what to call me, so he started calling me Phe for Phoenix—with my burns and all… I know he meant well, but, it really just reminded me that I was damaged. So, now that I've gone through all of the refugee paperwork, I've picked my own name. I couldn't really escape 'Phe' though since everyone had already called me that for a good year."

Her house was on the right of the street. There was a street light at the gravel driveway, but it was rather dark until her front porch which had two lights on either side of the door. The house was rather large—he couldn't imagine that she owned it.

"Did you choose your last name as well?" He asked as they started along the gravel, crunching as they walked.

"Marty doesn't have any other family, so he asked if I would become a Mager. He can't technically adopt me, so I'm not his legal kin or anything, but as far as he's concerned, I'm family. Unless someone proves otherwise, I'm Pheona Mager. Not nearly as interesting as Wufei Chang," she replied and laughed.

He hardly heard his name from her—names… they're rarely spoken, when one stops to think about it. They're used to get someone's attention, but they aren't usually just said in conversation. It was odd hearing it from her. Most others in the town called him Chang, and he preferred it that way.

"Well, thank you for walking me home. I told you, everything's fine," Phe said and walked up the four steps to the top of her porch. She put her hands on her hips and looked around. "Damnit! They stole my cauldron! I knew I shouldn't have left candy out for those brats…"

Wufei stayed at the bottom and smiled slightly, but only for a moment.

She started to put her keys into her door. "You know," she said with her back turned to him, "I'm not exactly a busy person myself. Working at the restaurant is about all I do. If you want, we can try to line something up when we both aren't working. I only know the island and a bit of mainland around the ferry station, but I don't mind showing you around a bit. If you want."

He watched her with a raised brow. Phe seemed to be taking her time opening her door. Was she trying to draw out their conversation?

"It would be helpful to know the area before the winter," he replied. She laughed and sighed, though it seemed mostly to herself.

Was that the wrong answer? It was an honest one. If he were to be isolated on the island during ice and snow, it wouldn't do to have him get lost.

"Yeah… yeah, I guess that's true. Well, you know where to find me if you want to line something up. G'night."

She turned and waved at him from her door. He waved back and she shut it.

The feeling in his stomach still had not gone away. He walked carefully so that he could still hear over the crunching of gravel. He couldn't explain why, but he was sure that something else was going to happen.

Just as he exited the area lit by the porch lights, he heard movement to his right. His head snapped over and he scanned the area. There were numerous low bushes and tall, thick trees. Her front yard wasn't particularly dense, but it was enough that someone could have been hiding in it—hiding while waiting for her to come home.

He took a step towards the trees, and then another. It seemed that he spooked whatever it was in the trees, because the movement picked up, heading away from him. Wufei glanced over at the house and saw that Phe wasn't watching him leave. Taking his chances, he entered the underbrush and into the darkness of the woods.

Though it was nearly pitch black, it hardly bothered him. Nothing compared to the darkness of space, after all.

Once he was in a good few yards, he stopped and listened again. He could hear breathing, but it was oddly muffled, like whatever it was had something over its face. Wufei felt certain it wasn't an animal. And seconds later, that was confirmed when a figured emerged from behind a particularly wide tree and ran at him.

It took nearly no effort for Wufei to duck down and swing the man over his back, throwing him to the ground roughly. It took him a moment to adjust to the darkness, but once he could see well enough, he realized that the man he had pinned was wearing a mask. It was a rubber-latex mask from a Halloween store—Wufei vaguely recognized the character as some horror villain known for his claw like hands and horrible burns.

He reached down and jerked the mask off of the man's head.

Wufei had seen him before. He was one of the men who were constantly hanging off of Lea. "What, exactly, were you planning on doing? Trespassing on a woman's lawn in the middle of the night?"

"Dude, chill out," the man groaned, trying to roll on his side. "It's Halloween man, we're just having some fun."

"We? Who's out here with you?" Wufei snapped, but the man didn't answer. He just groaned some more and then started whining about his phone being broken. Wufei stood and looked around. He only managed to make it a few steps before someone jumped from his side and tried to swing a tree branch at him

They were wearing a similar mask, and had horrible aim. He caught the branch with one hand and pulled it forward. The would-be attacker jerked forward, and Wufei grabbed him by the collar, shoving him against the nearest tree. He pulled the mask off as well. Another one of the Lea-lackeys.

"Is there anyone else with you?" He asked and roughly pulled the man from the tree and pushed him back again.

This guy was bigger than the other, and once his mask was off, and he could see, he decided to try to fight.

He broke Wufei's grip from his collar and wound up to try to throw a punch, but Wufei caught his wrist and twisted it backwards. In moments, the man was on his knees, begging for his arm to be let go. If he wanted, Wufei would have broken his wrist—and probably his arm as well. But he hardly wanted people thinking he assaulted someone.

"Damn, c'mon man, let me go," the second attacker begged, "it was just the two of us. We weren't gonna hurt her, just scare her a little bit! It's Halloween!"

"Halloween? You use that as your excuse to torment and harass someone? I didn't realize such filth lived in this town," Wufei snarled, putting more pressure on his hold. The man gave a cry and he pushed himself further towards the ground, trying to shift his arm into a better position. "I could snap you in half, and it would be completely justified."

He let go and shoved the man into the dirt and leaves, resisting the urge to try to make the man get up and fight. His opponent was already down. To keep fighting him would hardly be honorable.

The man scrambled to his feet. He moved to stand next to his friend, both looking at each other and then Wufei, wondering if they would continue to fight.

"You're hardly a challenge," Wufei said, venom dripping from his words. "I suggest you go far away from here. If I hear someone's bothering Phe, I promise you will regret it. I suggest you let any other friends know this as well."

"Y—you don't even know who we are! You can't do anything to us!" It was the first attacker who spoke. Was he drunk? Wufei suspected so.

"I know your faces and that's all I need to get information on you," he replied and took a step forward. The men quickly took a step back. They stared one another down for a bit before the two inebriated and now injured men took off. 

Phe's lights went off in the distance, and from the woods, he could see her walking about her first floor. Wufei waited just long enough to make sure that there was no one else planning on doing something stupid and then walked off back towards the town.

 

When he was back in his guesthouse, he tossed off his jacket and sat down at his small table to boot up his laptop. As he said, all he needed were the men's faces. He was already keeping a running dossier on most of the town's residents—just in case, of course. Perhaps it was just a habit from spending two years tracking down Gen Two's.

Mike Murray and Cory Putchko were the men's names. He had to scroll through a few pages of residence records before he found them, but he found them. Based on the their social media pages, Mike's older brother Joe was in an on again, off again relationship with Lea. Wufei wouldn't have been surprised if those two had put the men up to the task of terrorizing Phe.

Over the course of the next week, he contemplated telling Phe what had happened. Ultimately, he did not. She seemed like the type to tell him that she didn't need someone to fight her battles for her. If it were up to him, he would stop the battles before they got to her.

000

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes: This one is for you, JadeUne! Your comment prompted me to go ahead and updated. See? Readers make all of the difference in the world =)
> 
> I forgot to thank a few very important people in the last chapter: my wonderful beta readers. I’ve had a few, primarily because some lost interest or disappeared… Or I disappeared and they weren’t willing to come back! I can’t blame them for not wanting to work with an author who goes missing for a few months! But, regardless, I am going to thank them all anyhow, starting with Jhotenko, who has stuck it out the longest with me! Couldn’t have managed to get as far as I have without him! Sylvaniae also reviewed quite a bit for me! There are a few others who did some reviewing, but I have to search out their names because it’s been a while…   
> Thank you for reading!  
> Ever Your Servant,   
> A.F

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Notes: Let’s see…. I think I started this story about two years go. I was in no rush to complete it, not really. To be honest, I mostly wrote it for myself. Gundam Wing is not a terribly popular category, and even less so if you are an author straying from the popular pairings. There was a contest a year or so ago for Gundam Wing fandom authors to write a piece for the anniversary of the series. I wrote a piece that was a snippet of Wufei’s life at age thirty (not canon, of course, if you count Frozen Teardrop to be canon.) It was sort of ‘fluffy’, I suppose? He was having a conversation with his five year old daughter. This story more or less was inspired by that snippet. 
> 
> By the time this story wraps up, it will be a short novel length story, I think. As a fair warning, this is ‘romance’ story, in a sense of speaking. However, as any of my other readers can tell you, I am not a romance author. When I write it, it is a very slow burn. I do not shove two people together and say, ‘now kiss!’ For the most part, this will be more of an… introspective piece from Wufei’s narrative. It is a story about Wufei learning that there is a life for a soldier beyond the battlefield, if he can accept that he’s earned it. 
> 
> Thank you for reading, whoever you may be! I expect that perhaps five people will read this, and then it will disappear into the void of the Gundam Wing fandom, haha!
> 
> Ever Your Servant,  
> A.F


End file.
